Fertility treatments
Family balancing
Family balancing, otherwise known as ‘gender selection’ allows for parents to determine whether they’ll add a baby boy or baby girl to their family
The gender of an embryo can be determined by use of pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT-A).
Treatment follows the same routine as IVF (and ICSI), the only difference being that the resulting embryos undergo a biopsy when they reach blastocyst stage. This biopsy occurs in our in-house laboratory and the embryos are then frozen.
Later, the embryo(s) of the desired gender are transferred to the patient’s womb in a subsequent frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycle.
Pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT-A)
What is PGT-A?
Pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT-A) is a specialised technique that tests the embryo for chromosomal abnormalities before transfer to the womb. The primary aim is to increase the likelihood that a healthy embryo will implant and reduce the risk of miscarriage. PGT-A is also expected to reduce the incidence of foetal abnormality and birth defects related to chromosomal disorders.
How does it work?
IVF/ICSI treatment to obtain embryos
A normal embryo (of desired gender, if applicable) is transferred to the woman’s womb in a frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycle.
Embryos reported as abnormal are removed from storage and allowed to perish, provided patients give their consent to do so.
Who is PGT-A for?
- Couples who wish to know the gender of their future baby
- Older women who have an increased risk of chromosomal abnormality
- Women who have experienced recurrent miscarriage or multiple IVF failure
- Couples with severe male-factor infertility
What are the risks of PGT-A?
There are no risks to the patient (other than those present for IVF in general). However, there is a risk that a patient may have fewer or no embryos available for transfer if some or all embryos are reported as abnormal.
As with any laboratory procedure, there’s a very small chance that an embryo could be damaged during the biopsy but this risk is less than 1%.
Thousands of babies have been born as a result of IVF with PGT-A with no reported increase of congenital abnormalities above the general rate for children born with the help of IVF. Although there is currently no evidence that PGT-A poses any risk to children born, there have not yet been sufficient PGT-A cases globally to absolutely rule out any detrimental effect on child development.
